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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Language And Class Struggle in Eugene Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano

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!Reflective Statement The Bald Soprano ! The interactive oral enhanced my understanding of Eugene Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano

with regard to the play itself and the playwright’s background. Our IO discussed the play as a

product of its conception, bringing into focus various elements of European society around World

War II that influenced Ionesco in the writing of his play. Also relevant were the suggested parallels

between the visit of the play and the culture of visits specifically in Lebanon, all of which

contributed to my understanding of the cultural and contextual considerations of the work.

European culture of the 1950’s and its effects on Ionesco’s writing of his play were brought

up. Our discussion of the effects of the political tribulations of the first half of 20th century

European society point to the Americanisation of Europe, which was in its infancy at the time of the

play’s conception. England had just emerged triumphant (but shattered) from its darkest hour, this

lead the English to adopt the overblown sense of optimism and security echoed by the Smiths and

the Martins opening segments of the in the work. This sense of security serves to explain why Mrs.

Smith kept emphasising “English” in her monologue at the beginning of the play, as well as both

families’ almost ludicrous blithe attitudes.

Parallels can be seen between some elements of the micro-culture of the characters in the

play and current Lebanese culture. The visit of the play was compared to the zyarah (family visit) as

a typical form of socialisation in Lebanon. Upon further reflection I found other aspects of the

Smiths and Martins’ culture relatable to ours in Lebanon, such as the existence of a defined racial

and sexual hierarchy and an embedded Lebanese patriotism (for when Mrs. Smith reiterates

‘English’ at the start of the play). Finding these similarities made the play more impactful as its

lessons appeared still be relevant.

Word Count: 314

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!Language And Class Struggle in Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano

Well known for his pioneering of French Avant-garde theatre, his depictions of solitude and

human detachment in his plays, Eugene Ionesco was also noted for his work on absurdist (or

nonsense) plays. In The Bald Soprano, Ionesco uses the characters and their interactions with one

another to present three major concerns about human society.

Two of these concerns deal with language: the first with with the way that language is taught

and used to convey thoughts in modern society while the second deals with the point of language

and its place in human communication. His third concern is with the class struggle and class

distinctions in society, as shown by the actions of the Fire Chief and Mary when juxtaposed with

those of the Martins and the Smiths. At various points in the play are these problematics explored

through the action on the stage and the dialogue in the play.

The first point Ionesco makes is a point about how language is taught. The idea for the play

came to Ionesco while he was trying to learn english through the listening of records and reading of

books (known as the Assimil method). Ionesco was impressed by the contents of the dialogues he

was given when learning English, and decided to write an absurd play titled L'anglais sans peine

("English Without Toil”), with another possible title being Il pleut des chiens et des chats ("It's

Raining Cats and Dogs"). The play was originally written in French while Ionesco was learning to

speak English, and throughout the play a variety of language particles, truisms, and pronunciation

exercises similar to those taught in English classrooms appear, making no sense whatsoever.

Pronunciation exercises appear extensively, especially at the end of the play when language

begins to disintegrate noticeably into nonsense. An example of this is when Mrs. Martin says

“Cacao trees on cacao farms don’t bear coconuts, they yield cocoa” on page 40, to which Mrs.

Smith replies “Mice have lice, lice haven’t mice.” (Page 40). The words that are given in phrase

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books as examples of English and are taught as proper English in language classes are the same

words that Ionesco uses as non-sequiturs.

Phrases such as ‘Edward is a clerk; his sister Nancy is a typist, and his brother William a

shop-assistant’ or ‘An Englishman’s home is truly his castle’, both uttered by Mr. Martin on page

38, despite being perfectly good examples of grammatically correct English sentences, serve no

purpose in the play and are said for no seemingly reason; just as they would serve no purpose in real

life. Through the appearance of sentences like these Ionesco asks the question of why these phrases

are taught if they have no use; if they can never have a contextual meaning. This complication of

language, when juxtaposed with the purpose of communication, leads to Ionesco’s next concern.

It becomes apparent that Ionesco is raising the point that language is not a sufficient medium

for human communication as language is superficial. Throughout the play it can be argued, that

while dialogue is in abundance no one actually says anything. This is exemplified at the very end

when the play restarts in a loop with the Martins playing the roles of the Smiths and the Smiths

playing the roles of the Martins.

This event is significant in that it suggests that the roles of the four characters are

completely fungible, that although both couples are their own people with their own lines, they are

essentially stock characters because neither party has anything to say. Ionesco’s view on human

contact in the postwar upper-middle class can be said to relate to the Heideggerian concept of das

man, “the they” or “one” (as in ‘ “one” must always arrive on time’). What Heidegger refers to in

his concept of das man is that people will pick inauthentic modes of existence where instead of

truly choosing to do something do only what others do because “That’s just what one does”.

This amorphous part of social portrayed in The Bald Soprano: the entire play takes place in

the form of a social call, one couple, The Martins, is visiting another couple: The Smiths. The way

the couples behave overall is an exaggerated view of the social norms among the middle-class a

behaviour that Ionesco finds troubling.

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One example of this is when Mr. Martin says “There is a native British modesty-forgive me

for attempting, yet again, to define my thought-not understood by foreigners, even by specialists,

thanks to which, if I may thus express myself . . .of course, I don’t mean to refer to you . . .” (36).

This native British modesty, brought up when the Martins and the Smiths call the Fire Chief and

Mary’s display of affection too exhibitionistic is an example of Heidegger’s concept of das man.

People (native British) are not supposed to publicly display affection as Mary and the Fire Chief do,

and as such the offending couple is shunned for breaking this norm.

When the Smiths chase Mary, the maid, off the stage simply because it would be

inappropriate for a maid to read her poetry in front of the guests, this is an example of the characters

following the dictates of das man in an exaggerated sense, as Mary is literally shoved off stage after

being asked to and refusing. The concern that Ionesco raises in his play is that language is not being

used by people to authentically communicate their feelings, but is only being used in the way “they”

use it, in a way which is superficial and undermines the point of communicating at all.

The final concern that Ionesco raises are the divisions imposed by social classes in middle

class society. The characters of The Bald Soprano can be roughly divided into two parties, the

families: The Martins and The Smiths, and the workers: Mary and the Fire Chief. The latter is the

servile class, the Fire Chief, who has no name and is simply addressed by his title (in the manner a

chef would be referred to as ‘chef’), and Mary, the maid. When the Fire Chief makes his entrance

Mary throws herself on him saying that she is so glad to see him at last, to which the Smiths and

Martins reply:

Mrs. Smith: “Even so, I don’t like to see it . . . here among us”

Mr. Smith: “She’s not been properly brought up

Mrs. Martin: What I think is that a maid, after all-even though it’s none of my

business-is never anything but a maid . . .

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However this intrinsic bias the couples show against the working class is less pronounced

with the Fire Chief, who is asked to sit with the party. This difference in the shown by the Smiths

and Martins to Mary and the Fire Chief lies in an apparent gender inequality between the two. This

could also be in part due to the nature of each’s work, the Fire Chief is in charge of extinguishing

fires and saving lives while Mary is merely a maid, in charge of nothing as spectacular. These social

divisions, divisions based on gender, class, and vocation, are important tensions Ionesco expresses

with mid 20th century English society.

Ionesco stated that he was inspired to put into a play what he felt when he was reading his

English phrase book. Indeed, verbal saturation and the resulting explosion of truisms and absurd

conversation are a recurrent theme in The Bald Soprano, and these are used to express his other

concerns, those of class distinctions and the futility of contact through language. Overall his

concerns, those of how language is taught, used, and social and sexual discrimination are apparent

in the play.

Word Count: 1,286

!!Works Cited:

Wheeler, Michael. "Martin Heidegger." Stanford University. Stanford University, 12 Oct. 2011. Web. 20 Sept. 2014. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heidegger/#Spa>. !Edition used: Ionesco, Eugéne The Bald Soprano and Other Plays: Grove Press, 1958 !!!!

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